From the above picture taken in advance of the 2013 draft, only one — Nathan MacKinnon — now is playing with the NHL team that drafted him.

Seth Jones, who played some of his youth hockey in Denver, Wednesday was traded from Nashville to Columbus, for center Ryan Johansen. They both were No. 4 overall picks in the draft, Johansen in 2010 and then Jones. It also was a deal involving former Portland Winterhawks being swapped straight up.

Drouin, the No. 3 overall pick in 2013, and MacKinnon’s linemate with the Halifax Mooseheads, is with Syracuse of the American Hockey League after being sent down as it came out that he earlier had requested a trade from the Lightning.

I’m not one to get too excited or draw excessive inferences from the presence of scouts/executives from other teams at NHL games — the reasons often are “innocent” or even involve travel convenience — but Pat Verbeek, the assistant general manager of the Lightning, is at the Avalanche-Blues game as I type.

There’s an interesting story in The Hockey News about upcoming NHL draftees Dominic Turgeon and Ryan MacInnes, the sons of former stars Pierre and Al. Both centers from Canada’s major-junior system, Ryan MacInnes is Central Scouting’s No. 20-ranked North American skater, and Turgeon is 97th. The each made strong jumps from the mid-term (winter) rankings and figure to be selected relatively early in the upcoming draft.

Dominic Turgeon, 18, is another product of Colorado youth hockey. He lived in the Denver area since age 9, beginning in 2005 when his father finished out the last stint of his 515-goal NHL career with the Avalanche. Dominic played for the Littleton Hawks and Colorado Thunderbirds, and Pierre helped coach when he could. Wonderful family that still resides in the area. Dominic, who plays for the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks and was teammates with Seth Jones last season, is the only boy among four siblings, but his late older sister, Elizabeth, was also an elite hockey player. (Excellent story here about Liz being honored by 2014 U.S. Olympian Lyndsey Fry, her former teammate with the Colorado Select, before and during the Sochi Games.)

NASHVILLE, TENN. — I misplaced my phone Tuesday morning, so I couldn’t take video at the Avalanche’s morning skate. But a recap from the pregame activities at Bridgestone Arena — which focuses on Tyson Barrie and his new nickname moving back to D — is here.

Nashville will be without rookie defenseman Seth Jones for the first time this season. The Colorado-raised standout is the only Preds player to suit up in all 72 games, suffering a concussion in his last game on Sunday against Chicago. The above picture outside Nashville’s arena reminds me of how Jones would have been promoted in Denver had the Avalanche selected him with the first overall pick last June. He’s certainly a marketing gem with his elite size and skills and his family’s unique background.

When: The Avalanche travels to Music City for a game Tuesday against the Nashville Predators, who almost certainly won’t make the playoffs this season.

What’s up: Jones, drafted fourth overall by Nashville last year after a massive buildup that many assumed would make him the top pick by the Avalanche, isn’t part of the Calder Trophy conversation. But he’s only 19, with a bright future.

Background: Jones spent a lot of his youth in Denver. He’s the son of former Nuggets forward Popeye Jones. He played his junior hockey in Portland, Ore., leading the Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup Finals last year. Portland lost to Nathan MacKinnon and the Halifax Mooseheads.

Dater’s take: I haven’t received many e-mails in quite a while from Avalanche fans complaining that the team drafted MacKinnon instead of Jones. Forwards typically make better draft picks in the No. 1 slot than defensemen, but Jones is going to be a good player in the NHL. Defensemen typically take longer to blossom than forwards. But has Jones’ rookie season been disappointing? Yes. His minus-23 rating is the second-worst among the Predators (forward Eric Ny- strom is at minus-24) and among the worst in the NHL.

Colorado Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie, left, loses his footing against Minnesota Wild right wing Justin Fontaine behind the net during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Denver on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013. (Joe Mahoney, The Associated Press)

Tyson Barrie played 17:26 as a third-line forward and power-play point specialist in the Avalanche’s 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday, and he spent 19:03 on the ice in Wednesday’s overtime loss at Winnipeg, in which he played right wing on the second line. The skilled and speedy defenseman is fine with playing up front, but he’s excited to move back when John Mitchell returns from a back injury. The Avs are also shorthanded up front because P.A. Parenteau (knee, weeks away from returning) and Alex Tanguay (hip surgery, out for the season) are unavailable.

Barrie, 22, continues to run the power play up top.

“It’s an experiment,” Barrie told me after Colorado absorbed its first shutout of the season. “It’s a learning curve, but we got Mitchy (and Parenteau) out and I’m a defenseman, and that’s where I want to be, but anytime the team needs me to do something you have to step in and do your best.”

NHL draft prospects, from left, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, and Nathan MacKinnon pose at a news conference in Mississauga, Ontario, on Thursday, May 30, a month before the NHL draft in New Jersey. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Michelle Siu)

Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who, of course, was the No. 1 overall draft pick from the Halifax Mooseheads in June, was surprised to see former teammate Jonathan Drouin sent back to Halifax by the Tampa Bay Lightning, which selected him No. 3 overall.

“I thought he was ready, he’s a heckuva player,” MacKinnon told me after practice Tuesday. “Obviously they felt he needed another year. He’s definitely going to tear up junior. He’s won everything in junior. But he wants to make that next step. He has a lot of hockey ahead of him.”

Avalanche teammates Paul Stastny and Erik Johnson have been invited to next month’s U.S. Olympic team orientation camp, along with Colorado-raised defenseman Seth Jones and former University of Denver winger Beau Bennett of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Stastny and Johnson helped the Americans win the silver medal at the 2010 Vancouver Games, and were members of the bronze-medal winning U.S. squad at the World Championship last spring. Jones, who played youth hockey for the Littleton Hawks and Colorado Thunderbirds, was selected by Nashville with the fourth pick in the June 30 draft. Bennett just completed his rookie season with the Penguins, after playing two years at DU.

Nathan MacKinnon, the No. 1 overall pick in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche, speaks with the media during the 2013 NHL Draft at the Prudential Center on June 30, 2013 in Newark, N.J. (Mike Stobe, Getty Images)

From the NHL, Nathan MacKinnon’s words with with the media after being taken by the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday:

Question: Thoughts on going No. 1?NATHAN MacKINNON: This is unbelievable. I’ve dreamed about this moment for the majority of my life, and for it to finally come true and to be part of an organization like this is definitely surreal.

Q. When did you know?NATHAN MacKINNON: When you guys found out. They didn’t tell me to my face that they were going to take me. Obviously they said it in the media, but didn’t want to get my hopes up for anything. Definitely a little bit more nervous than I expected to be a couple minutes before the draft. But it all worked out, and this is definitely an unreal moment.

A few items on a Sunday in which I’ve felt like garbage. Something going around I think. But the fingers still work from the E-Z chair:

** Avs brass will start migrating to New York on Wednesday in preparation for the NHL draft and a board of governors meeting Thursday in the Big Apple. Your humble correspondent will be on hand in Newark, N.J., for Sunday’s draft. I lived in New York City for two or three years as a mini-Dater, so I’m going “home.”

** I still don’t know exactly why there has been a delay in making the announcements, but as of now the Avs still plan to hire Andre “The Bear” Tourigney, Francois Allaire and Adam Foote to the coaching staff. It’s my understanding that Allaire’s and Foote’s positions will not be full-time, though I believe Allaire will be around plenty. Foote should only be on duty for selected home practices and/or morning skates, to work with defensemen. He doesn’t want to travel because he wants to coach his son’s youth team.

And yes, I’m going to use “The Bear” every time when Tourigney’s name comes up at least for a good while longer. Because who doesn’t like to call someone the nickname of “The Bear?”

I don’t think so. I think my story that posted tonight is what will happen next Sunday: the Avalanche will not be taking Seth Jones in the NHL draft. They will take either Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov.

I think, as of now, that MacKinnon is the favorite. But we’ll see what the next nine days bring.

A lot of of you have emailed or tweeted me tonight: maybe the Avs are just posturing? Maybe they’re trying to run some interference, that what they really want to do is take Jones, but want to let everyone think they’ll take a forward instead and therefore draw some bigger offer from another team that, say, really lusts after MacKinnon or one of the other two.

According to the CBC’s Elliotte Friedman, they did. On his Hotstove segment from Saturday’s Game 2 of the Cup Finals, Friedman said he’d heard — though he didn’t get it confirmed from either team — that the Flames offered their three first-round picks in this year’s draft (Nos. 6, 22 and 28) to the Avs for their first overall pick, and that the Avs said no.

Furthermore, the word I’m hearing — and have heard all along — is that there is no way the Avs will make a trade that takes them out of the top three selections in the draft. In other words, they are not leaving Newark on June 30 without either Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon or Jonathan Drouin in tow, wearing a jersey with a bright, burgundy A on it.

NHL draft prospects, from left, Jonathan Drouin, Seth Jones, and Nathan MacKinnon pose at a news conference in Mississauga, Ontario, on Thursday, May 30, a month before the NHL draft in New Jersey. (Michelle Siu, The Canadian Press via AP)

Today’s NHL draft story with Bob McKenzie and Mark Rycroft is here. The TSN/NHL Network and Altitude experts chimed in on the Avalanche’s big June 30 decision, which seemingly becomes more difficult the more you analyze it. It’s not like 2010, when the Edmonton Oilers had to choose between similar-style forwards Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin. The Avs’ choices are the best defenseman (Seth Jones), best center (Nathan MacKinnon), and best winger (Jonathan Drouin) available.

Some of what we had from McKenzie was cut out of today’s story, a quote after we wrote he still thinks the Avs will take the home-grown Jones, the son of former Denver Nuggets player Popeye Jones. McKenzie made it clear that, if the Avs view Jones/MacKinnon or Jones/Drouin neck-and-neck, you take what you need the most — Jones. But if there’s a gap between No. 1 and No. 2, with Jones being No. 2, you gotta take No. 1.

“If Nathan MacKinnon was clearly the No. 1 guy, with a big gap between him and anyone else in this draft, then you have to take him,” McKenzie said. “If it’s really close, I think you go with the guy that you need the most.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Amy Jones, mother of probable 2013 NHL No. 1 overall draft pick Seth Jones. Young Seth poses with the Stanley Cup during his final season in Colorado, playing for the triple-A Colorado Thunderbirds peewees (12-under). Notice how he’s not touching it? The kid was smart enough to know you never touch it if you hope to someday win it.

Our Lunch Special today is on Seth Jones’ peewee coach Kent Murphy, who had the future Avalanche defenseman for three seasons, from ages 10 to 13, when he played for the Littleton Hawks (AA) and Colorado Thunderbirds (AAA). Jones was a second-year squirt (10-under) when he made Murphy’s peewee AA (12-under) team that went on to win the 2005 Tier II national championship.

Murphy, 53 (second in from right in picture), retired from coaching in 2011, after spending 35 years — all but one with peewees – behind the travel-hockey benches in Fargo, N.D., Minnesota’s East Grand Forks and Bloomington-Jefferson and the two Colorado organizations that both play out of South Suburban Ice Arena in Centennial. The North Dakota native began coaching travel hockey in 1978 with the Fargo Raiders. He has advanced more than 80 players into NCAA Division I, including following NHL guys (some NHL teams they played for not listed):

Speaking of Seth, a look at his future salary and comparing it to the Avs’ current players under contract suggests Colorado might spend close to the cap next season – assuming Jones is indeed the Avs’ choice and makes the team out of training camp. Unless I’m missing something, Jones will earn $925,000 as the No. 1 overall draft pick, with a $3.775 million cap hit after bonuses. (Edmonton’s Nail Yakupov, picked No. 1 overall last summer, has that same three-year, entry-level contract worth $11.325 million total.)

The cap shrinks to $64.3 million for 2013-14, and right now the Avs have 11 forwards, eight defensemen and three goalies under contract at about $56 million, some $8 million under next season’s cap. That doesn’t include unrestricted free-agent forwards Milan Hejduk, Chuck Kobasew or Patrick Bordeleau. Adding Jones ($3.775 million) and at least two forwards would get the Avs closer to the cap. However, there’s more wiggle room there by taking away third-string goalie Calvin Pickard and at least one defenseman to make room for Jones.

Again, all this is all assuming Jones makes the team out of camp, and does not return to the Portland Winterhawks for another year.

Look for more on Seth Jones in the coming days. I’m anticipating a call back from him tonight or Thursday and colleague Adrian Dater is traveling to Portland on Thursday to talk to him in person.

Here’s an opporunity to get to know Seth Jones a little better before tonight’s NHL draft lottery (6 p.m. MT, NBC Sports Network), during which the 6-foot-4 defenseman will be interviewd as 14 teams hope to get the chance to select him No. 1 overall in the June 30 draft in New Jersey.

The Avalanche has a 18.8 percent chance, second best behind the Florida Panthers (25 percent).

I scored Jones’ cell phone today and will try to get word from him after tonight’s draft, or at least in the coming days if the Avs get lucky tonight. Keep in mind that, if the Avs don’t get lucky tonight, they could still land Jones. They could package the No. 2 or No. 3 pick for Jones, including a player and/or prospect.

The following (unedited) transcript is from Eurolanche, the European-based Avalanche fan club. Here is the full interview, re-posted with the permission of interviewer David Puchovsky of Slovakia. You can find more from him and Eurolanche at eurolanche.com

I didn’t have a good look at the replay, but Duchene lost the defensive-end draw and had coverage on Sedin from the left circle. Sedin took a pass from Alex Burrows near the wall and scored from the dot, and Duchene apparently screened goalie Semyon Varlamov.

“I didn’t do a good enough of identifying our coverage and they got a good shot off, had a good screen. It’s disappointing. That’s the way it’s going right now,” Duchene said after the Canucks improved to 18-0-2 against the Avs in the teams’ last 20 games. “We may do that play 10 times in a game and they’re hitting skates instead of squeaking through. I take full responsibility for that goal. I don’t accept breakdowns like that, especially late in the game like that. It’s not good enough on my part.”

The game story has a quick quote from Duchene about Seth Jones, whom he skated with last summer. Hate to ask that kind of question, about obtaining the No. 1 overall draft choice this summer, but Duchene handled it pretty well.

Hard to believe Duchene, P.A. Parenteau and Gabe Landeskog were each minus-3 in this one. Landy only had one shot and one hit, but he wasn’t that bad. Parenteau was really good.

If I were Canadian, today would be a sad day, because Team Canada’s World Junior Championship juggernaut that includes Edmonton Oilers young star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and other NHLers were pounded 5-1 by the Americans in Russia. It’s always gold or bust for the Canadians, and their boys have busted in this year’s semifinals against a USA squad that appears to get better by the game.

Team USA — which includes Colorado-raised defenseman Seth Jones, the youngest player on the team, and goaltending coach David Lassonde, who has the same title at the University of Denver — will play Sweden for the gold medal Saturday morning (5:30 a.m. MT). Canada will play Russia for the bronze (2 a.m. MT Saturday), a game it probably would prefer to skip.

Still, every decent-sized Canadian newspaper will have a WJC story/picture with captain/refer on its cover Friday. It will be, without a doubt, their biggest sports story of the day (unless the NHL lockout ends in the next 10 hours). Canada’s lifeblood is hockey, and being the best of the international sport speaks to its national pride.

Here in America, most sports sections will have little or no mention of Team USA’s remarkable victory and chance for gold. We’re not educated enough about the importance of the world’s second-biggest international ice hockey tournament, and that most of the NHL’s future stars come from the WJC and some will go on to play in the Olympics. Most people don’t realize that America’s 19-under mix of NCAA and major-junior stars just pounded what could have been Canada’s best WJC team in the past 20 years, given that RNH and others are only available to participate because of the NHL lockout. I often hear my Canadian friends say they are never completely playing with their best WJC lineup, because guys like Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly of the Avalanche were locked in with their NHL team when they were 18 and 19. Plenty of merit there, and make no mistake, Duchene and O’Reilly would have felt like rock stars to represent their country in the WJC when they were eligible.

Most people don’t realize Seth Jones — who likely will be the No. 1 overall NHL draft pick in June — is the son of former Nuggets player and assistant coach Popeye Jones, and the Team USA assistant captain grew up playing for the Littleton Hawks (double-A) and Colorado Thunderbirds (triple-A) before moving to Dallas at age 13. Most people don’t know he probably would have played in last year’s WJC as a 16-year-old, if he wasn’t injured before it began.

Most people don’t realize Lassonde, the former associate head coach under Dick Umile at New Hampshire, has molded DU’s Jussi Olkinuora — a former walk-on — into one of college hockey’s best puck-stoppers, and Lassonde could end up being Umile’s hand-picked successor.

Here’s to Team USA and its quest for WJC gold, because … you don’t get enough of this kind of stuff in the States.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.